Spring Forward

I hate changing the clocks. Spring forward means a lost hour’s sleep and getting up for work in the dark. Fall back heralds the get up/get home in the dark period.

Nevertheless, Spring is creeping up the North Devon hills. We even had a quiet, sunny afternoon yesterday (until 5.00 pm when a few drops of rain interrupted my planting).

All this means I’m behind on my digging and planting. The weather and my physical pains shoulder the blame. Losing Mum has left a whole in my life and in my allotment planning. Last week was taken up with the funeral and bonding with family. The grieving is not over, but life moves on.

Sunday was a day of cleaning and a little planting. I’ve gone a bit paranoid over garden diseases and pests. So I spent the best part of a nice sunny day with rubber gloves, buckets, a sponge and a brush washing down the greenhouse and plastic pots. A dash of Jeyes fluid helped the process. But, it has left me smelling of disinfectant.

Later on, I loaded up the wheelbarrow for a planting spell up at the allotment. I was anxious to sow the rest of the onions. It didn’t quite work out like that. Despite careful planning and measuring, I seem to have run out of space in my onion/garlic bed.

All the garlic is in and I have now put in 75% of the Sturon yellow onions. But, I had to delay planting more Red Baron sets as I ran out of compost and I need to figure out how to squeeze the rest of them in without overcrowding things.

All else is looking good up there. Garlic has sprouted nicely and the yellow onions are slowly rising.

Bill has kindly tilled the soil where his chickens have pecked for a month or so. The carpet has killed off a fair amount of the weed cover. Another month and I can dig that over too. When readjusting the carpet the other week after the umpteenth winter gale, I disturbed a little critter – I think it might have been a shrew. I’ll leave them to the owls and hawks.

Back at the homestead, my potato in a pot has been planted. Bubble wrap is keeping it nice and warm in sterilised greenhouse.

Finally, my raised bed onions have finally sprouted. They don’t seem to be faring all that well underneath milk bottles. It’s probably that not much water can get through the spout. I’ve got a plan to solve that.

Now, a quick check to see if all the clocks are set to the right time.